I was in Washington DC from 22nd to 27th January. I was primarily there for the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Conference at the Marriot Marquis Hotel. Having learned some top tips from others at previous conferences, instead of paying the eye-watering hotel accommodation prices for moderate rooms, I booked an Airbnb apartment in a traditional Washington house. The apartment was just 2 blocks north of the conference hotel and I had space to relax and get some peace and quiet after busy days at the conference. It was a good decision.
The conference was an excellent opportunity to hear presentations from some of the big hitters in US higher education, such as George Kuh, Jillian Kinzie, Ashley Finley, Mary Dana Hinton, Tia Brown McNair, Steve Volk, Lynn Pascarella and from other big hitters closer to Elon home…Peter Felten, Jessie Moore and Leo Lambert.
It was a wonderful conference with high quality presentations focused on High Impact Practices, student engagement, curriculum enhancement, educational development and evidence-based learning and teaching. It was also great for catching up with people and meeting new people. Following the conference, I had the rest of the weekend to explore DC. I enjoyed the Women and the Arts museum, which is one of the few museums in DC you pay to go around.
The museum has a fantastic photography section (on the left, work by South African photographer, Zuhele Muholi, and also by American photographer, Angela Strassheim respectively). It was lovely to have the time to explore the museum properly and appreciate the diverse range of artwork that the museum is home to. From the museum I then headed out to walk around and soak up some of the sights including the White House (from the back).
There were quite a few tourists and groups of school children taking photographs as well as people holding small protests against many of Trump’s policies. There were some colourful and sometimes quite rude posters and banners, my favourite of which (and more presentable than some) was the Nukes of Hazzard! I then walked to Dupont Circle where there is a wonderful bookshop, Kramerbooks, where there is also Afterwords Cafe. I have never seen a busier bookshop! Clearly it’s the place to be on Saturday afternoons!
On Sunday I walked down towards the National Mall area, where the sun decided to come out so I could see good views of the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument, and also the front of the White House. After walking around, I headed to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum where I had some lunch, and then an afternoon to explore diverse exhibitions including: live butterflies, herbarium specimens, giant gemstones, Egyptian mummies, coelacanths, and a topical exhibition on epidemics!
It was wonderful to be able to have time to spend time in whichever parts of the museum appealed most. It was a good taste of DC, but I really just tickled the surface as there is so much to see. I’ve saved the very tempting art galleries for when I will be back in DC in May with Allan. Then we hope to have longer to explore further.
On Monday 27th, I was invited to Georgetown University, where I met with colleagues from the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS), and also from the Red House. I gave a public lecture based on ideas contained in my new book. I also met with some students and a faculty member who have been co-designing a course. It was a wonderfully rich set of conversations and great to spend time with my friend and colleague Susannah McGowan, who I knew from when she worked at Kings College London. Georgetown University has a fascinating history.
Georgetown itself was an historic settlement that was established 40 years before the settling of the main centre of Washington DC and the architecture is notably distinct. It was wonderful to have a glimpse of such an interesting part of DC on the Potomac River, and I might try to persuade Allan we need to take a detour to Georgetown when we’re in the city in May!
Hi Cathy – thanks for the blogs – look forward to them. Georgetown looks amazing!
Georgetown was great, there is a main street that looks a bit like Bruntsfield or Stockbridge, hence I might need to explore a bit more on the next trip…
Cool – also like you I love staying in Airbnbs although there’s always the worry on the first day of getting in 🙂
Washington DC looks and sounds amazing. I would love to go to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and have heard it is HUGE. Just love the photos to go with the text. Perfect.